Hollande hails ‘revolutionary’ new lithium battery plant

French President François Hollande hailed ‘a new industrial revolution’ in inaugurating Friday a new lithium battery plant built by the Bolloré group, which manufactures the Bluecar made popular by France’s electric-car sharing scheme.
By FRANCE 24 (text)

A few hours after setting new goals for France’s energy policy, French President François Hollande inaugurated the Bolloré group’s new battery plant on Friday, praising the family-owned firm which spent at least 1.5 billion euros (2.3$) on battery-related development over about a decade.

“You’re preparing a new industrial revolution here,” Hollande told Vincent Bolloré, head of the group, and hundreds of employees at the inauguration of the new Ergué-Gabéric plant in the northwest Finistère region. “That revolution is energy storage.”
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Earlier in the day, as he attended an environmental conference in Paris, Hollande vowed to halve energy consumption in France by 2050 and cut fossil fuels by 30% by 2030. The French president has also made electric cars “a priority.”

During his visit to Finistère, Hollande toured the brand new factory where the lithium batteries will be made for electric buses and for Autolib’, an electric-car-sharing scheme launched in Paris nearly two years ago with a partnership between Bolloré and local authorities.
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